Weekend Coffee Share
Yay, it's the weekend. Well, almost. It's a rainy Friday Morning, and I'm sitting here with my coffee, hoping to finish this post before I leave for work.
If we were having coffee, I'd of course ask how your week went (feel free to share in the comments).
This week was a busy one at work, but that's okay because it makes the day go faster. I work for a Pack and ship store, called The Letterbox. We have personal mail boxes (like a post office) and also pack and ship packages, fax, do notaries, etc....it can make for busy days and good exercise...lol. I love it. This week was busier than usual so I'm ready for it to be done.
Yesterday in the mail I received a book by fellow Weekend Coffee Share Contributer, Antoinette Truglio Martin, called Becoming America's Food Stories. I can't wait to read it. I've been fascinated by family history for the last year or so. I wish that I was more interested in this when I was younger, and more of the older generations in my family were alive to tell the stories. Maybe someday, when I retire, I'll delve deeper into it. Until then, I'll try and drive my family crazy asking questions...lol.
Last weekend my husband and I went to look at appliances and flooring samples for the other part of the house. It was productive and we narrowed down some choices. We are going again tomorrow to look at another appliance store. Decisions, decisions.
We had our grandson up to play on Wednesday night. We went hunting T-Rex's. He's into dinosaurs right now. He is 2 1/2 and so much fun. He said the hummingbirds that came to the feeder were Pteradactyl. He wore me out. I had just gotten back from exercising with a group of ladies at our local Middle School track, and then he came up and we spent lots of time running around. Well, I did, he drove the little jeep we have for him.
This weekend is Mother's Day and it's always a little bittersweet. My mom is no longer here, and I always miss getting to celebrate her. However, my daughters and I will do something and I have the best Mother-in-Law. Last year my daughters, mother in law and I went and got smoothies and then walked one of the lakes near our home. It was a wonderful afternoon.
If you're a mom, grandma, spiritual mom, Happy Mother's Day. I know this holiday is tough for many women, and if you struggle during this time, my heart is with you.
I've been enjoying getting on here and blogging more. So far, they have just been for challenges, BUT I like the ones I picked to be a part of and it is helping me be consistent. Hopefully at some point I will blog other things as well, but these have been good. There's another Wednesday one that I've thought would be fun, but That would make two on Wednesdays, and do I really want to do that....I don't know. We'll see.
Last weekend was so nice, that we were able to spend a lot of time outside, had a fire in our fire pit...this weekend I think will be rainy. I really need to get out and do some weeding, and I also need to decide what to plant in my containers and go buy seeds and a few starts. I don't have enough light or a spot to start seeds indoors, so I usually have to buy tomato starts, and even pepper starts because our growing season isn't long enough for me to start them outside. Other things like cucumbers, zucchini, lettuce, spinach, carrots, etc, do fine. Are you planting a garden? What do you love to plant?
I am curious to know, in the cities/towns where you live, do you have a homeless crisis? I say this gently because I had mentioned on my Facebook about driving through Portland near the airport and seeing a huge homeless camp along the river where there hadn't been one before, it seems to just be getting worse here. I was attacked by a few people for saying it was sad to see. They felt I was being insensitive, which I wasn't. Our local news channel is doing a segment coming up on homelessness, and also violence on the rise in Portland (oregon). I am curious how other cities are helping, or are other cities contributing to the chaos? Because I feel there's a difference between saying let us help you and come to our city, set up where you want, do what you want, etc. I wish there was an easy solution, but I don't think there is because not everyone wants help.
Well, I'll keep it short this week. It's time to go to work and on days my daughter works at the coffee shop in the mornings, I like to go get a coffee from her.
Have a great weekend and an awesome week, next week.
Kirstin
I think you meant well in voicing your concern for those suffering from homelessness. It's a complex issue. There are many reasons for homelessness and more than one solution. I volunteer at a food pantry and a small percentage of our people are homeless. There are a few homeless people who spend their days in a park across the street, I'm not sure where they live. Also, about three homeless people live at a train station a mile away. My friend and I take a bag of food to them when we volunteer. A friend of mine runs a daytime shelter for homeless men in Georgia. They offer computers, healthcare and job hunting assistance. I think there's a wide range of help and I do think people who are in this field do communicate and share solutions. It's hard.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughts Susan. It is very complex because there are so many facets of it...those that want to remain homeless, those battling mental illness, those with PTSD, those who want to do whatever they can to get out of their situation...it's tough. I love the idea of a daytime shelter like your friend runs.
DeleteYour grandson sounds adorable! They do ear you out, don't they? My mom i son longer with us either. I would give anything to celebrate Mother's Day (and her birthday) with her on more time!
ReplyDeleteHe is a character for sure. Yes, I miss mothers day with my mama! Hugs to you too.
DeleteLink up on Mondays with my link up too if you get the chance but I also understand time & commitment limits. I agree with you it can be hard with the celebrations of Mother's Day around you when your Mum is gone. In our family, I dropped any obligations to "do something on Mother's Day" because I hated that for me. I even blogged about it which will go live on Mother's Day. When we cared for our then 2 yo Granddaughter we had her convinced there were koalas in the gum trees near our house. That worked for quite some time going for walks. LOVE kids' imaginations and getting to share them. Denyse #weekendcoffeeshare
ReplyDeleteI'll have to check out your link up and your Mother's Day post. I always like to keep things simple...last year my girls and I and my Mother in law went to a smoothie shop and a walk around the lake..I just don't want to cook or clean so it doesn't matter what else happens..lol. Koalas in gum trees would be fun. Yes, I love their imagination.
DeleteThanks for stopping by Denyse.
We try to keep mother's day pretty low key and doing something fun as a family; though last year my husband and I went hiking since none of the boys wanted to come and we figured it would be more pleasant not listening to their complaining. We live in a small rural area but we still have some homeless people around and I have been seeing more lately it seems. Sadly I don't know of any services in our area for them but I do try to give out bags of food and toiletries when I can but it feels like so little when confronted with such a big problem.
ReplyDeleteHaha...yes, more pleasant when no complaining...been there done that. I have two girls. Yes, the homeless issue is so big here it is almost overwhelming.
DeleteHi Kirstin - your job sounds like it would have lots of variety and would be fun to go to. After finishing my last job and resigning because it was sooooo drama filled and awful, I have a secret envy of anyone who says they love their job. Happy Mothers Day and I hope you enjoy it with the other "girls" in your family - and BTW I totally understand how exhausting one small grandchild can be - we have two (5yrs & nearly 3yrs old) and they are so full of energy and chatter - after one of their visits I need a Nana nap to recover!
ReplyDeleteI really do like it. I hadn't worked for over 17 years when I needed to go back and I admit I struggled with some anxiety and fear. "What do I even know how to do anymore" everything was so different. But my son in laws aunt approached me and asked if I was still looking for some work ( i had approached her the previous year), and that's how it started. I love the variety, I love interacting with our box holders and the public. Ideally I'd still just love to be a homemaker, but I do enjoy this. Plus it's only about 5 minutes from home. Not much of a commute at all.
DeleteThat's a beautiful photo of Mt Hood and the barns. I'm glad you had a productive week and you enjoy your job. Homelessness is an issue here, too. It's complex and the city manages various services to help the homeless. Thank you for linking to #WeekendCoffeeShare.
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting Natalie. I love that we live where we have so many views.
DeleteHi Kirstin. We live just south of you in California, about an hour north of San Francisco. And yes, we have a growing homeless problem. I agree that the problem is complex but only to a degree. Both Oregon and California are nuts and seem to be happy when there are social problems like this, but they never try to solve it, they only enable more of it and call it compassion.
ReplyDeleteAt the risk of sounding un-compassionate, I don't think it does any good bringing them food, and tents and blankets and mobile haircuts and showers.
If you have children you are responsible for and the homeless took up space in your back or front yard, you would not enable them by feeding and giving them everything they need to be comfortable, you would take steps to make them go away. As a compassionate person, you might try to connect them with ministries that actually work on their job skills, medical or emotional needs - whatever, but few seem to want that because they can setup their tents right in your neighborhood park and people will bring them what they need. So they don't get the help they really need and we loose our parks and many public places.
It's not an easy problem, but I know that what we currently do for them is not helping them.
BTW - don't let the jerks judge you. They are likely part of the problem and wouldn't know a good hearted person if they tripped over them. You do have a good heart and are likely anxious to find a solution that is good for the community and the homeless person.
Good on you Kirstin.
I totally agree with you Gary, in fact I was telling my husband yesterday as we drove through Portland (we are only 30 minutes north so frequent it about as much as anywhere else), that, I wouldn't just allow someone to come live on my property and then do as they please. We have had several people stay with us and there were always expectations, AND, boundaries. What used to be a pretty safe city (my daughters love to drive to Portland to go to cafes, etc, and we never worried too much), as become much less safe in the last few years. Yes, Portland does seem to thrive on social problems and contention. Uggh. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
DeleteI'm glad you had a nice mother's day.. Mine was bittersweet as I miss my mom but had a very nice day with my amazing mom in law. How I'd love to have a view like that of Mt. Hood!
ReplyDeleteIt was a nice Mother's Day...simple. My girls took me to lunch at our local corner store. We got sandwiches to go. Later we went to my inlaws to play cards. My mom passed away 17 years ago, it's always hard.
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